New York Times Best-selling Author to Speak at The University of Scranton
Steve Berry, best-selling author of espionage thrillers, will receive the 2011 Royden B. Davis, S.J., Distinguished Author Award from The University of Scranton’s Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library at an event on Saturday, March 19.
The University of Scranton’s Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library will present this year’s Royden B. Davis, S.J., Distinguished Author Award to Steve Berry for his best-selling espionage thrillers.
Area residents can meet the award-winning author of the Cotton Malone series, and other novels of this genre, at the 2011 Royden B. Davis, S.J., Distinguished Author Award Ceremony on Saturday, March 19. The award ceremony will be held in the fourth-floor McIlhenny Ballroom of the Patrick and Margaret DeNaples Center. The reception begins at 5 p.m. with the dinner and award ceremony following at 6:30 p.m. Reservations are required to attend.
Berry will discuss his thrillers including “The Emperor’s Tomb,” which is the seventh novel in the Cotton Malone series he introduced in 2006 with “The Templar Legacy.” “The Emperor’s Tomb” debuted at no. 8 on The New York Times Best Seller list on Dec. 12, 2010. Among his other stories of international intrigue are “The Amber Room” (2003), “The Romanov Prophecy” (2005) and “The Third Secret” (2005).
The author’s novels regularly appear on national bestseller lists, often cracking the top 10 and climbing as high as #2. He earned praise from The New York Times (“Berry raises the genre’s stakes.”); the Los Angeles Times (“… twists, turns, schemes and counterschemes manifesting themselves by the second …”); and USA Today (“In Cotton Malone, Berry has created a classic, complex hero.”).
In 2005, Berry was selected by the Georgia Writer’s Association (based on “The Romanov Prophecy”) as its Author of the Year. Also in 2005, the Amelia Book Island Festival honored him with its Nova Award. “The Charlemagne Pursuit” was selected as one of the 5 Best Thrillers for 2008 by Library Journal. All told, there are 11 million copies of Berry’s books, which have been translated into 37 languages and sold in 50 countries.
In addition to writing novels, Berry teaches the concepts of writing to audiences around the world. He and his wife Elizabeth started a foundation called “History Matters,” which is dedicated to preserving our heritage. In 2006, he was elected to the Board of Directors of International Thriller Writers (ITW). A year later he was chosen as one of ITW’s co-presidents, a position he held until 2010.
The Distinguished Author Award Series began with the Friends of the Weinberg Library’s desire to recognize and honor the work of fiction and non-fiction authors. The Friends also saw it as an opportunity for authors to share their literary pursuits and impressions with residents of northeastern Pennsylvania. The annual event helps the Friends of the Library Endowment Fund, which supports special gifts for the Weinberg Library collections and services.
The Distinguished Author Award was named for the late Royden B. Davis, S.J., who served as the first president of the Friends of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library at Scranton.
Past recipients of the Distinguished Author Award have included Emmy, Oscar and Golden Globe-winning author and actor Jack Palance, Malachy McCourt, Mary Higgins Clark, Carol Higgins Clark, Lisa Scottoline, Linda Fairstein, James Grippando, Philip Margolin, Mary Gordon and William Bernhardt. The award was first presented in 1997.
For further information or to reserve a ticket for the award event, visit www.scranton.edu/authaward, or contact Kym Fetsko at The University of Scranton at (570) 941-7816 or fetskok2@scranton.edu.
